Archaeologists discover 72 million-year-old duck-billed dinosaur tail in northern Mexico

Archaeologists discover 72 million-year-old duck-billed dinosaur tail in northern Mexico
By Reuters
Tuesday, July 23, 2013 2:40 EDT

By Luc Cohen

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A team of archaeologists have discovered the fossilized remains of a 72 million-year-old dinosaur tail in a desert in northern Mexico, the country’s National Institute for Anthropology and History (INAH) said on Monday.

Apart from being unusually well preserved, the 5 meter (16 foot) tail was the first ever found in Mexico, said Francisco Aguilar, INAH’s director in the border state of Coahuila.

The team, made up of archaeologists and students from INAH and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), identified the fossil as a hadrosaur, or duck-billed dinosaur.

The tail, found near the small town of General Cepeda, likely made up half the dinosaur’s length, Aguilar said.

Archaeologists found the 50 vertebrae of the tail completely intact after spending 20 days in the desert slowly lifting a sedimentary rock covering the creature’s bones.

More:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/23/archaeologists-discover-72-million-year-old-duck-billed-dinosaur-tail-in-northern-mexico/

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PICS: Huge dinosaur tail discovered in Mexico

THE complete skeleton of a huge dinosaur tail has been discovered by experts in Mexico.

By Andy Wells/Published 23rd July 2013



The National Institute of Anthropology and History says the tail is a whopping 15 feet (5 meters) long and resembles that of a hadrosaur or crested duckbill dinosaur.

An institute rep says it's not yet possible to confirm the species, but it would be the first full tail of that kind in Mexico.

Paleontologist Felisa Aguilar says they uncovered roughly half of the dinosaur, which was 36 feet (12 meters) long and lived about 72 million years ago.

The excavation took 20 days in the municipality of General Cepeda in the northern state that borders Texas.

The paleontologists, working with Mexico's National Autonomous University, also found hip bones.

(More images)

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/328140/PICS-Huge-dinosaur-tail-discovered-in-Mexico